Mounting assembly



Feb. 20, 1968 P. WHITNEY MOUNTING ASSEMBLY Filed Jan. 12, 1966 Inventor GEORGE E WHITNEY.

WM saw ATTYS.

United States Patent 3,369,784 MOUNTING ASSEMBLY George P. Whitney, Villa Park, IlL, assignor to Motorola, Inc., Franklin Park, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Filed Jan. 12, 1966, Ser. No. 520,171 3 Claims. (Cl. 24827) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The assembly comprises a spring device having flanges to attach to studs extending through a baffle upon which a loudspeaker is to be mounted. A portion resiliently bearing against the rear face of the speaker is attached to the flanges by a set of legs to draw the speaker tightly against the baffle.

In prior art devices, loudspeakers have been mounted on the baffle by attaching nuts to threaded studs connected to the baffle and passing through two or more holes in the rim of the loudspeaker. When one side of a speaker is attached by use of a power driver to draw down the first nut with sufficient torque, that side can exert pressure on the speaker gasket to thereby crush it and possibly imbed the speaker rim into the baffle. Further, when the other side of the speaker is subsequently attached, also by means of a nut, the pressure exerted at that side may cause the loudspeaker rim to bend and become distorted. Such deformation of the frame can contribute to inferior sound reproduction by the speaker.

An object of this invention is to provide a simple and inexpensive device to secure a loudspeaker to a baffle in such a manner that the entire assembly may take place rapidly to expedite manufacture of electronic sound equipment.

A further object is to obviate damage to a speaker or its baflle during the fastening procedure.

In summary, a spring device encircles the loudspeaker, the ends of which are fastened to the baflle and the center portion of which bears against the rear face of the loudspeaker. In a specific form, a spring device having a pair of legs straddles the loudspeaker which is to be mounted. The apex of a saddle-shaped portion connecting the legs exerts a force against the rear face of the field coil housing to draw the loudspeaker against the baflle. A flange connected to the extremity of each leg is provided with a pair of fingers each having a hole so that the flanges may be fastened to a pair of studs previously attached to the baffle. Each flange is constructed in such a manner that when the fingers are released from a flexed position they bear against the studs to thereby secure the spring device to the baflle. Since the saddle-shaped portion exerts pressure at the center of the rear face of the field coil housing, the pressure exerted on the baffle during the fastening procedure and thereafter is equalized around the periphery of the loudspeaker to minimize possibility of damage to the loudspeaker itself or its baffle.

Further objects, features and advantages will be apparent from a consideration of the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation view showing the loudspeaker, bafile, gasket and spring device securing the loudspeaker to the batfie;

FIG. 2 is a back plan view of the device shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view of the flange fastened to the baflle stud.

In the drawings, loudspeaker 2 comprises a metal housing 4 surrounding the field coil, a truncated conical enclosure 6 which protects the speaker diaphragm and a rim 3,369,784 Patented Feb. 20, 1968 ICC 8 integrally connected to enclosure 6. As shown, four holes are available on rim 8 for attachment purposes, but only holes 10 and 12 are utilized in this embodiment. A gasket 14 is cemented onto rim 8 and extends slightly beyond the rim to provide protection for the speaker against vibrations. Loudspeaker 2 lies on baffle 16 in a manner such that a pair of studs 18 and 20, either threaded or plain, and attached to baffle 16, extend through holes 10 and 12 respectively.

Spring device 22 is comprised of a pair of legs 24 and 26 connected by a saddle-shaped portion 28 having an apex 30 and a pair of flanges 32 and 34 attached respectively to the extremities of the legs. Flange 32 is comprised of finger 36 and finger 38, the former being attached to leg 24 and in a similar fashion finger 40 of flange 34 is attached to leg 26. Fingers 36 and 38 extend outwardly in a rest position but may be flexed toward one another so that hole 44 in finger 36 and hole 46 in finger 38 are lined up with one another. In such a flexed position, V-shaped flange 32 is placed in a manner such that stud 18 extends through holes 44 and 46. Since fingers 36 and 38 are springy enough to return to their rest position when flange 32 is released, the fingers bear against the grooved surface of stud 18 to fasten flange 32 thereto. Flange 34 is fastened to stud 20 in a like manner to thereby secure spring device 22 to baflle 16. In a rest position, apex 30 of saddle-shaped portion 28 is deeper than the position shown. Thus, when spring device 22 is secured to baflle 16, apex 30 bears against rear face 5 of metal housing 4 to thereby draw the loudspeaker tightly against the bafiie. In a preferred embodiment spring device 22 is constructed from a single strip of metal or other material having a degree of flexibility and bent in appropriate places to provide flanges 32 and 34, legs 24 and 26, and saddle-shaped portion 28 as shown in the drawings.

A workman could secure spring device 22 simply by flexing fingers 36 and 38 of flange 32 together with one hand, flexing fingers 40 and 42 with the other hand and placing the flanges so that they engage studs 18 and 20 respectively. The flanges could be secured consecutively or simultaneously, but in either case the pressure on baffle 16 arises from the force exerted by saddle-shaped portion 28 at the center of rear face 5 and thus the pres sure is distributed along the periphery of gasket 14. This provides an advantage over prior art attachment devices whereby one portion of the speaker has been mounted on the baflle by use of a power driver to draw down a nut on a threaded fastener with the result that that portion could crush the gasket and become imbedded in the baffle; also by attaching subsequent portions, distortion of one or more of the speaker parts could result. However, use of the present invention distributes the force on the gasket and the baffie so that none of the foregoing occur. A further advantage of the present invention is that it is compatible with the location of holes in and the shape of existing loudspeakers. Also, the entire assembly may take place in a matter of seconds.

I claim:

1. The combination of: a loudspeaker having a face and an apertured rim, a baffle having a pair of studs extending through the apertures in said rim, a gasket positioned between said face and said baffle to limit vibrations of said loudspeaker, an arch-shaped spring device comprising a pair of legs straddling said loudspeaker each having an extremity, said spring device further comprising a saddleshaped portion connecting said legs and resiliently bearing against said loudspeaker, said device further comprising a pair of V-shaped flanges each having a pair of outwardly extending fingers, each of said flanges being individually attached to the extremity of an associated one of said legs, the pair of fingers of each flange each having a hole 10- cated to receive an associated stud when such fingers are flexed toward one another, the pair of fingers in each of said flanges being outwardly biased upon release so that said flanges are respectively clamped to associated ones of said studs for drawing said loudspeaker against said baflle.

2. In a loudspeaker assembly having a loudspeaker with a first face disposed on a baffle and a second opposing face, at least one stud extending from the baflle, a spring device for retaining the loudspeaker on the battle including in combination; an arch-shaped spring device comprising a pair of legs straddling said loudspeaker each having an extremity, a portion connecting said legs for resiliently bearing against the second face of the loudspeaker, means at the extremity of one of said legs for attachment to the battle, means at the extremity at the other of said legs having a pair of outwardly extending and outwardly biased fingers, each of said fingers having a hole located to receive the stud when such fingers are flexed toward 4 one another, said pair of fingers being outwardly biased upon release for engaging the stud and drawing the loudspeaker against the baffle.

3. The loudspeaker mounting assembly in claim 1 in which said spring device comprises a single strip of flexible material bent to form said pair of legs, said saddle-shaped portion and said flanges.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,552,859 9/1950 Carbonneau 24827 X 2,673,334 3/1954 Julian et a1. 339-75 2,728,058 12/1955 Phalen 248-361 X 3,215,873 11/1965 Kruger et a1. 24827 X ROY D. FRAZIER, Primary Examiner.

J. F. FOSS, Assistant Examiner. 

